Golden Practices

E-Marketing - Do You? Don't You?

A discussion began over at David Maister's blog when a marketing consultant down-under, David Koopmans, asked:

"If you were advising a professional firm about web marketing, what would you stress?" after pointing out that "among some types of professional firm (sic) there is often resistance to the concept of marketing in general, and the digital space in particular."

An understatement to be sure! David Maister made some astute observations and appealed to readers for some specific evidence of effective digital marketing.

A long discussion ensued (see the comments on his post: Digital Marketing for Professional Firms) including a few posts by yours truly. (I was actually encouraged by a few friends and clients to "get over there and post!").

I both agreed and disagreed with David Maister's observations. In particular, I disagreed with the supposition that business decision makers don't spend much time on the web. (I've read several credible studies to the contrary.)

But the main point of my thinking on this is that looking to existing PSF firm websites for evidence of best practices in e-marketing is pretty much a waste of time. It's like sending your talent scout to a nursing home to spot cute child-actors. Possible but unlikely. 

Further, some might be surprised that, despite my passion on the topic of e-marketing and incorporating social media into marketing plans of traditional firms, my final comment includes the following statement about attempting to persuade firms in this area:

Personally, I don't see it as my role to "convince" anyone to move in this direction...As a service provider, I have no interest in helping people implement something they don't 'get' or believe in.

Frankly, the only firms moving in this direction are those whose leadership understands the way people are changing in their use of the web PLUS bear courage to innovate and experiment (because that is what it still is!) in this arena.

I'm pleased to see a growing number of accounting firms finding the courage to explore new techniques of e-marketing. If you're borderline, or not sure what I'm referring to, check out David's post.

Thanks to David Koopmans for posting more about this subject on his blog. And special thanks also to Bill Dotson, Technology and Business Development Consultant, who liked my comments enough to pick them up on his own blog.

Merry Christmas from Golden Marketing

This time of year inspires reflection and appreciation of things most meaningful to us. For me, this blog (which means those who read it) is a very meaningful thing.

In two and a half years of "braindumping" here, I am continually amazed at the depth and breadth of friendships, learning, experiences, and opportunities that come from this unusual and still emerging form of e-communication.

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for reading and contributing to this blog.

To you, wishes for a very Merry Christmas from me and my team members: Jen (left) and Sue (right).

Goals, Objectives & Resources

My friend and fellow Fellow of VeraSage, Ed Kless, has a really good reminder post about the differences between goals and objectives, two commonly confused terms.

Commenter Ric Wilmot adds a great .02 cents and expands the subject into consideration of resources.

Check out the post and comment: The Difference Between Goals and Objectives.

Why RSS Beats E-Newsletters Hands Down

E-Newsletters are notorious for WYSINWYG: What You See is NOT What You Get.

Overcoming format foibles in the delivery of an HTML newsletter that I was testing for launch, is what first got me looking into blogs back in 2005.

When I found out how easy, painless, and beneficial RSS was over e-mail, using blog technology, with a Feedblitz email delivery option for those not RSS savvy, was a no-brainer.

Feedblitz is awesome and automatically distributes my RSS feed to the subcriber by email whenever I post. It's reliable and self-administered by the subscriber so I don't have to worry about anti-spam law compliance, administering my list, or any other regular maintenance. And did I mention it is free??

This is why I was surprised this evening when I received an e-newsletter (!) from another great (and free) blog tool provider SiteMeter. I love SiteMeter, too. And I subscribe to their RSS feed to stay current on product news so I'm not sure why I received this e-newsletter (because I don't remember signing up for it) but out of curiosity, I clicked. And look at what happened when it opened...

And I bet someone spent a lot of time making it look "just so."

I can't understand why companies still spend so much effort and money formatting e-newsletters when they can just use a blog/RSS and benefit from both "push" marketing to subscribers (both RSS and email readers) AND "pull" marketing, too, to grab web readers and searchers who might be future customers.

Is it just me or does it seem weird that an RSS feed tracking tool company still uses e-newsletters?

I'm not saying e-newsletters are necessarily dead... (can you imagine the hate mail I'd get??) but I have to ask why they are still so widely used when they are clearly suboptimal.